Tillamook Community » Squeaky Cheesehttp://www.tillamook.com/community/blog
Just another WordPress siteWed, 25 Mar 2015 20:00:55 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1Brain Food: A Cheesy Vocabulary Lesson from Tillamookhttp://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/brain-food-cheesy-vocabulary-lesson-tillamook/
http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/brain-food-cheesy-vocabulary-lesson-tillamook/#commentsMon, 08 Sep 2014 17:15:51 +0000http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/?p=19335Long gone are the carefree, sunshine-filled days of summer. It’s time to dust off your dictionary, pack your backpack and head back to school for another year of blissful learning…or something like that. Here at Tillamook, we love to learn new things almost as much as we love to eat cheese. You too? Good! We’re […]

]]>Long gone are the carefree, sunshine-filled days of summer. It’s time to dust off your dictionary, pack your backpack and head back to school for another year of blissful learning…or something like that. Here at Tillamook, we love to learn new things almost as much as we love to eat cheese. You too? Good! We’re here to teach you the ins and outs of this dairy business, one cheesy word definition at a time!

Tillamooknoun: “The land of many waters” or the magical place on the Pacific Coast in Oregon where the air is salty, the cows are happy and the cheese is delicious.

Squeakyadjective: a familiar noise you will hear when you bite our famous cheese curds at the Tillamook Cheese Factory!

Cheddaring Processverb: The process our cheddar cheese curds go through after the whey is drained off. Curds mat together and are tested for proper body and acidity, after which they are cut into small pieces, and salted!

Enzymesnoun: Billions of microscopic, living organisms added to milk to kick off the production of Tillamook Cheese, ice cream and sour cream!

Deliciousadjective: The only word you’ll be able to muster up after a bite of our award winning cheese!

Wheynoun: Liquid that is separated from the curds during the cheese making process. Whey is dried and sold as a healthy alternative to sugar for baking!

Naturally Ageverb: The process in which we wait, and wait…and wait for our cheddar to develop its award-winning taste without any unnatural processing.

]]>http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/brain-food-cheesy-vocabulary-lesson-tillamook/feed/0Behind the Scenes: Squeaky Cheese Dayhttp://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/behind-the-scenes-squeaky-cheese-day/
http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/behind-the-scenes-squeaky-cheese-day/#commentsThu, 07 Mar 2013 17:30:49 +0000http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/?p=12469To help curd-loving fans across the country, and to support our partners at the Oregon Food Bank, we released the curds to our Online Shop for one day only on our 104th birthday! Squeaky Cheese Curds are highly perishable and start to lose their “squeak” after just a few days, so we’ve never been able to facilitate […]

]]>To help curd-loving fans across the country, and to support our partners at the Oregon Food Bank, we released the curds to our Online Shop for one day only on our 104th birthday! Squeaky Cheese Curds are highly perishable and start to lose their “squeak” after just a few days, so we’ve never been able to facilitate shipping them on a daily basis before. In order to ship these squeak-packed bags of curds, the Tillamook Marketing team took several days away from our regular jobs to personally hand-pack and ship orders from the Tillamook Cheese Factory! Here are some photos from our adventures in shipping Squeaky Cheese Curds.

Here come the curds! The curds we sent were taken fresh out of the vat at 6am (boy, was it early!) so we had time to pack all the boxes.

Good morning! We shipped brand-squeaking fresh curds with overnight shipping, to ensure optimal squeak when they arrived at their final destination.

Here are some empty boxes, waiting for their curds! Each box of curds was handpacked with two bags of curds, an ice pack, a packing slip, and lots of love.

We had a fun time packing all 700+ orders of cheese curds! Thanks again for supporting Tillamook and celebrating our 104th birthday. We hope you can visit us soon at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, where you can get cheese curds all year round.

]]>http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/behind-the-scenes-squeaky-cheese-day/feed/0Hooray! Squeaky Cheese Day is here!http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/hooray-squeaky-cheese-day-is-here/
http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/hooray-squeaky-cheese-day-is-here/#commentsWed, 13 Feb 2013 16:00:41 +0000http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/?p=12267Celebrate our 104th birthday with us by munching on Squeaky Cheese Curds fresh from the Tillamook Cheese Factory. For today only, we’re opening the vats and releasing Squeaky Cheese Curds on the Online Shop. Supplies are limited, so get ‘em while they squeak! Funds raised will benefit the Oregon Food Bank to support hunger relief. Order your tasty curds […]

]]>http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/hooray-squeaky-cheese-day-is-here/feed/4The Tastiest Poutine This Side of the Canadian Borderhttp://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/the-tastiest-poutine-this-side-of-the-canadian-border/
http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/the-tastiest-poutine-this-side-of-the-canadian-border/#commentsMon, 11 Feb 2013 17:30:24 +0000http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/?p=12258Poutine is arguably my guiltiest, gooiest food pleasure. What is poutine, you ask? It’s a Canadian dish that consists of French fries, covered in cheese curds, drowned in gravy. Is this “poutine” you in a good mood yet? I’ve often sampled poutine from food carts in Portland, but had never thought to make it myself! […]

]]>Poutine is arguably my guiltiest, gooiest food pleasure. What is poutine, you ask? It’s a Canadian dish that consists of French fries, covered in cheese curds, drowned in gravy. Is this “poutine” you in a good mood yet? I’ve often sampled poutine from food carts in Portland, but had never thought to make it myself! This recipe is frighteningly easy to make – try it for an afternoon snack or appetizer.

Tips:
1. I thickened my sauce too much – a slightly runnier sauce will help cover all the fries
2. You can make it with vegetarian broth in the gravy (like I did!), but beef or chicken stock work just as well
3. Try adding herbs to the gravy for some extra flavor!

PreparationPreheat the oven to 375ºF. Wash and dry the potatoes. Leave the skins on and cut them into short, thin strips. Place the potato strips into a large bowl filled with ice water (tip: this removes some of the starch so your fries come out crispier!). Take the potatoes out of the water after 15 minutes and spread them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes until golden and crispy, turning occasionally.

While they bake, heat the butter and flour in a medium saucepan on low-medium heat. Once it starts to foam, gradually add broth (I used vegetable, but beef works too!), stirring with a wire whisk between additions. Once all the vegetable broth is in the saucepan, bring to a slow boil. Reduce the heat to a low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until the gravy has thickened and then remove from heat.

Once the French fries have cooked, remove them from the oven and place onto a serving plate. Top with Squeaky Cheese Curds and pour gravy over top. Serve warm and try not to stuff yourself!

]]>http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/the-tastiest-poutine-this-side-of-the-canadian-border/feed/0Factory Fresh: What goes into #ReleasingTheCurdshttp://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/factory-fresh-what-goes-into-releasingthecurds/
http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/factory-fresh-what-goes-into-releasingthecurds/#commentsTue, 05 Feb 2013 00:52:45 +0000http://www.tillamook.com/community/blog/?p=12193Over the years, we’ve heard countless stories of curd-lovers driving for hours to the Tillamook Cheese Factory just to get their Squeaky Cheese Curds. Because of the short shelf life and to maintain the freshness and quality of Tillamook Cheese Curds, they are normally sold exclusively at the Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon… but if you’re […]

]]>Over the years, we’ve heard countless stories of curd-lovers driving for hours to the Tillamook Cheese Factory just to get their Squeaky Cheese Curds. Because of the short shelf life and to maintain the freshness and quality of Tillamook Cheese Curds, they are normally sold exclusively at the Cheese Factory in Tillamook, Oregon… but if you’re a curd-lover, we’ve got great news!

In honor of our 104th birthday, we’re releasing the curds on February 13 forone day only!There will be a limited supply of Squeaky Cheese Curds for sale on our Online Shop! Squeaky Cheese Curd Day will benefit the Oregon Food Bank in supporting hunger relief. Click here to learn more!

This is so exciting! But why can’t Tillamook ship cheese curds every day?Squeaky Cheese Curds are extremely perishable, and start to lose their “squeak” after just a few days. Because of this, cheese curds require overnight shipping very quickly after they are made, which we cannot facilitate on a daily basis. To make sure curd-lovers around the country are able to get fresh curds to celebrate Squeaky Cheese Day, the Tillamook marketing team will actually be taking several days away from their regular jobs to personally hand-pack and ship your order from the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We wish we could spread cheese curd joy all the time, but for now, you can satisfy year-long cravings for cheese curds by visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR.

What is a cheese curd?Cheese curds are created at the very beginning of the cheddaring process, when small pieces of cheddar cheese separate from the liquid whey naturally found in milk. These “curds” are usually then pressed together to form 40 lbs. blocks of our cheddars that will go on to naturally age for up to three years. However, we do save a small amount of the fresh curds to be sold at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. They taste mild and salty, and when they’re really fresh they make a slight “squeak” noise when you eat them! Try them for yourself on Squeaky Cheese Day!

What makes a cheese curd “squeaky”?The squeak you might hear when you munch on cheese curds comes from the protein composition of fresh curds. When the protein in the cheese rubs against the enamel of your teeth it makes a “squeaky” sound. As cheddar ages, more moisture is released in the form of whey, and the protein in the cheese consolidates. Here at Tillamook, this consolidation is how cheese curds turn into Baby Loafs! That’s why our other cheddars (and curds older than a few days) don’t squeak! The cheese is still delicious to eat after it has stopped squeaking, but the squeak effect will be gone forever for that little curd.